I mentioned in my last entry the fun I had laying out "Fall Swirl." It was my first attempt at machine quilting and I was not a big fan of the fabrics, so I really had nothing invested in it. It was a learning quilt: just get it assembled so I'd have something with which to practice. My background is in graphic communication & design though, so when it comes to the design of a quilt--even for practice--I can't help but apply my sense of color and motion and intent to the layout. When designing the blocks, I started by organizing the fabrics from light to dark. My block used just 2 fabrics each, so once I saw I had a good range, I made a color combination that followed only 1 rule: following opposite contrast, combine from end to end of the range. Meaning the lightest fabric combined with the darkest; the 2nd lightest with the 2nd darkest, the 3rd lightest with the 3rd darkest, etc., through all the fabrics. This gave me blocks with high contrast (lights & darks together) and low contrast (the mediums together).But when I got to the layout/design stage--which is the part of any quilt I love the most!--I got caught up in the play of colors and motion. Simple blocks and 1 simple rule should have made this a snap, but there were so many possibilities!

I noticed the yellows were catching my eye, so I tried highlighting them with a framing layout, where the blocks with yellows would define a border withing the quilt (Fig. 1). It would work, but it looked too rigid for the swirling quilting I was planning. So I pushed the blocks aside & tried another layout.

Fig. 1

I thought about my singular rule for making the blocks--following opposite contrast, combine from end to end--so I tried following the light-to-dark range (Fig. 2). Again, it would work, but not with the quilting I had in mind.

Fig. 2

Thinking just about the quilting, and the blocks in front of me, I realized I had unconsciously been following 1 rule in all my layouts already: a 90-degree turn block-to-block so the contrast or colors never touched.

Huh! What else had I already planned? Well, the quilting was going to be big swirls... So tumbling blocks and swirling quilting... And that would make the blocks look like... What? Leaves! Fall leaves! I know, I know--I should have seen it before! It was not intended as a fall quilt--just a practice piece--but the fabrics had already led me to the design before I was aware.

So, back to the design area with my 3 rules... leaves are all jumbled up in the fall, especially with the wind swirling them, so now I had my design. Mix it up! So I did. After several tries at re-arranging and leaving it, then coming back & moving blocks around, I finalized the quilt (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3

Great! I could start quilting. But not quite... This was for practice quilting but something wasn't right about the layout. My eye needed a resting place that just wasn't there. My sense of design was not satisfied. I went back to my stash & pulled out The Reject Fabric (it hadn't been used with the rest of the fat-quarter bundle I'd bought, and when picking fabrics for this quilt, its contrast was squirrel-y, so I had rejected it again). It was covered in squash and had a definite Autumn feel. I fussy cut squash and pumpkins out of it at full-block size. And it got added to the mix of blocks (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4

From there I dragged my feet getting to the quilting stage but I got there and finished the quilt. It was my big step into machine quilting. And it did turn out better than a 'practice piece.' Its hanging in my kitchen now. In the daylight, I love how the colors match those out the windows flanking it. And at night, the quilting is highlighted by the lights above it. It might have started out as practice, but by adding my enjoyment of designing it right, it's perfect enough in the end.

I have my autumn quilt hanging in the kitchen right now. It's called "Fall Swirl." I love the play of colors and the large, swirling quilting that I designed as fall leaves on the wind. I especially love that it was my first attempt at machine quilting and that I didn't fail miserably!! Every quilt I've made up to this one was hand quilted. And I really enjoy it--don't get me wrong--but my ideas come faster than I can quilt them, so I had to try machine quilting. Now, I don't have a long-arm machine, and I don't work on a professional machine; no, my sewing machine is a portable, home machine. I barely knew where the 'feed dogs' were before this, and didn't know they could be dropped! Not a great start, but we all go through stumbles and starts, right? I decided I could figure it out. I had many green and yellow and orange fat quarters that I wasn't using (most were the odd left-over from packets I had bought & used all the fabrics but these) so I had nothing to lose if I made a quilt with them. I picked a quick-and-easy block and a wall-hanging size and began cutting and assembly. In a couple days I had all my blocks completed and was ready to lay out the quilt. I spend days and days on this stage--'cause it was so much fun!--until I got it right (come back to see an upcoming post on this stage), pressed the top, and was ready to quilt.

Fall Swirl (with no side lighting)

I grabbed some scraps of batting and some ugly fabric and went to work practicing: Tension trouble! Forgot to baste! Bobbin thread nests! I had so many problems I put it down & walked away for weeks. For as long as I let it sit, I could have hand quilted it, but I was determined to transition to machine quilting, and this was the quilt I had decided would be the first, so I went back to it and tried again. It must have been the perfect time away from it, because when I started up again the quilting went so smoothly that I only spend 15 minutes practicing before I took out the actual quilt, marked my quilt lines and began my first attempt. I'd love to tell you that it all went smoothly, but it didn't. I didn't know about the bobbin thread danger, so I had several bobbin-thread nests. I learned quickly: 1. Make two stitches & stop2. Pull the bobbin-thread end up to the top of the quilt3. Now start quilting. Following that solution made it so much easier that its become a Law-of-Quilting for me. The minute it takes to start this way saves me hours of cutting out nests and resewing! I also had difficulty sewing the long curves I designed (probably should have started with straight lines), but I kept trying and eventually got it right. It's not my best quilt, but I hang it in the autumn because I love the play of colors and the large, swirling quilting. And it reminds me of my first attempt at machine quilting, and how far I've progressed since then.